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Recommended Audio Book of the Day ....
The Eerie Silence: Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence
by Paul Davies.
"Are we alone in the universe? This is surely one of the biggest questions of human existence, yet it remains frustratingly unanswered.
In this provocative book, one of the world's leading scientists explains why the search for intelligent life beyond Earth should be expanded, and how it can be done.
Fifty years ago, a young astronomer named Frank Drake first pointed a radio telescope at nearby stars in the hope of picking up a signal from an alien civilization. Thus began one of the boldest scientific projects in history, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI).
After a half-century of scanning the skies, however, astronomers have little to report but an eerie silence--eerie because many scientists are convinced that the universe is teeming with life. Could it be, wonders physicist and astrobiologist Paul Davies, that we've been looking in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and in the wrong way?
Davies has been closely involved with SETI for three decades, and chairs the SETI Post-Detection Taskgroup, charged with deciding what to do if we're suddenly confronted with evidence of alien intelligence. He believes the search so far has fallen into an anthropocentric trap--assuming that an alien species will look, think, and behave much like us. In this mind-expanding book he refocuses the search, challenging existing ideas of what form an alien intelligence might take, how it might try to communicate with us, and how we should respond if it does.
The Eerie Silence provides a penetrating assessment of the evidence, past and present, and an exciting new road map for the future. "
My comments - This book is written intelligently about a topic that interests me. Although I would like to eavesdrop on any alien broadcasts, I am very skeptical of the wisdom of sending messages giving away our location.
My big question is: When has any civilization benefitted from contact with a more advanced civilization? I just keep thinking - what if the aliens decide we're delicious? My thought is "Shhhhh" maybe they won't find here.
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i agree that we (not you and I) think that we are smarter and better life forms...and this type of belief can/may/will be our downfall if there is need for our planet or its inhabitants for survival...soylent green is people! *guffaws*
ReplyDeleteseriously, I do worry that if we poke the wrong area of the universe, we will cause the issues, not the other way around. I believe without a doubt that we are just one of many...but we do not know enough due to our own limitations about the many and the others. we do not even know about the stuff around us enough to figure out the beyond. I have no doubt that scientists and those "in the know" are more than aware but not at "liberty" to divulge details. no conspiracy theories here. just seems to be the way everything works politically, and I am not capable of blind faith in any aspect of my life. there is always more to the story, and we rarely get the whole story.
I wonder if other existence operates this way too. perhaps this is our limitation, and why we may remain so inferior and stymie our own efforts.
ah, great topic and exciting but scary to ponder. I am not expecting ET but also not gut popping aliens either. could be both, and perhaps they are already here. *shrugs* if they are, start with water and under the sea. that is the easiest way to dupe and maintain civilization beyond our puny species.
peabrain pooped now. gotta run out before next winter wave hits. olaf needs to go back to wherever he came from *snorts* stay safe and warm.
z
I see this topic was stimulating for you too. Last night I saw Stephen Hawking on YouTube advising against trying to make contact. I agree with him. Some people thing that the space beings will help us cure disease and live peacefully, I think they'll eat us or make us work in mines. That's why I liked this book, very thought provoking. You stay warm too!
ReplyDeletecocoon was a movie; this is not enough reason to poke the sleeping bear. i do not think it is all ET and glow pods. I always think of invasion of the body snatchers and so many other ideas of other/beyond. I think there will be peaceful coexistence and violent takeover, or attempts to do so. it is not that different than our current existence against our own puny selves. *soapbox moment*
ReplyDeletelack of knowledge and understanding requires caution first, then exploration second. hawking is smarter than average of our species so I trust his instincts.
oh the snowwwwwwwwwwwww....do extraterrestrials freeze? inquiring minds want to know! maybe they are trying to kill us off right now...*snorts but in the realm of possibility*
z